Emergency crews stop flow of water at break in South San Francisco

A 12-inch diameter water main split open Friday and sent a torrent of water and mud into yards and homes in South San Francisco for three hours until utility workers managed to shut it off.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission line, which was shut off about 12:45 p.m., left a roughly 20-foot-deep by 35- to 40-foot-long groove in a hillside behind where it broke near 509 Elm Court.

Up to 12 homes along Magnolia and Palm avenues suffered minor flooding and water damage. No one was injured.

By dinner time, everyone in the area was allowed to return home after officials inspected the houses and deemed them all safe.

Officials are investigating why the line failed at a coupling between two segments of pipe.

The rupture, which sent water more than 100 feet into the air, was troubling because the burst line and the five-foot diameter pipe that feeds it were replaced just one month ago as part of a plan to modernize the Hetch Hetchy supply system, said SFPUC spokesman Tyrone Jue.

The city brought in dump trucks and front-end loaders to scoop up the thousands of pounds of rock and soil washed down the street by the muddy, brown water.

Though only a few inches deep in most places, the water left behind an enormous mess.

Matt Gogna, 30, was scooping soil from a driveway on Magnolia Avenue, where water had run beneath but not into his home. He considered himself lucky it wasn't worse.

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"No reason to get mad about it," he said. "Somebody is going to clean it up."

Jue said the SFPUC would cover all costs associated with the rupture. He added that an insurance claim adjuster would visit each damaged home to assess cleanup costs.

Gogna and several of his neighbors questioned why it took roughly three hours to shut off the geyser of water flowing into the neighborhood. Jue, of the SFPUC, said the appropriate crew had to be called to the scene, evaluate the problem and shut down the right valves. He considered their response to be fairly quick.

"It reminds me of the Glenview fire," said resident Maureen Brogger, referring to the ruptured pipeline San Bruno that billowed fire for 90 minutes before PG&E managed to shut it down. "It's water instead of gas."

Brogger lives in one of the damaged homes. She ended up with about 6 inches of water in the basement.

Police blocked off several streets in the area off Magnolia Avenue to redirect traffic after the break, which happened about 9:45 a.m. Some residents in the area heard the flow of water and assumed it was a heavy rain.

"I heard a gushing sound and thought, 'Wow, it was really raining out there,'" said David Rosaia, 52, of San Mateo, who happened to be at his aunt's house at Magnolia at Miller when the break happened.

Then he saw the muddy water and realized something else was happening. The burst quickly flooded streets and sent cars scrambling to get around the torrent of water. In one apartment complex, water poured down the outdoor stairway. Residents of the area used brooms to try to keep the water off their properties.

"We have beach front property now," said Virginia Gogna, laughing and motioning to the soil and water deposited in front of her home.